Seven Beach Teams Advance in Beijing

Becky Murdy
Assistant, Media Relations and Publications
Phone: 719-228-6800
E-Mail: becky.murdy@usav.org

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 9, 2011) – Four U.S. women's beach teams and three men's teams have advanced out of pool play at the Beijing Grand Slam, part of the 2011 FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour. With the conclusion of round-robin play, a total of seven U.S. teams have advanced to the knockout rounds.  

Jen Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.), seeded third, and 13th-seeds Lauren Fendrick (Carlsbad, Calif.) and Brook Hanson (Woodland Hills, Calif.) continued to be undefeated Thursday, winning their respective pools and advance to the second round of single-elimination play on Friday. Misty May-Treanor (Santa Monica, Calif.) and Kerri Walsh (San Jose, Calif.), seeded fifth, rebounded from a tough loss on Wednesday to win Pool E, also advancing to the top 16 and straight to the second round.

The three U.S. women’s teams in the top 16 will learn their opponents after Friday morning’s first-round matches are completed. 

The U.S. pair of Angie Akers (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Nicole Branagh (Orinda, Calif.), advanced past round-robin play to finish in the top-24 by defeating Mexico’s 28th-seeds Mayra Garcia and Candelas Bibiana, 21-16, 21-19 in 42 minutes. Akers and Branagh will face Italy’s 14th-seeded Marta Menegatti and Greta Cicolari in Friday’s first-round match.

Kessy and Ross defeated Italy’s Menegatti and Cicolari, 21-16, 21-13 in 33 minutes, to win Pool C.

“We are getting better and better,” Kessy said in an FIVB release. “Every team up here can win a tournament and we can’t take anyone for granted.”

Fendrick and Hanson won Pool D over fourth-ranked Marleen Van Iersel and Sanne Keizer, when injury forced the Netherlands’ pair to forfeit.  

May-Treanor and Walsh wrapped up the day winning Pool E by defeating Spain’s 21st-ranked Liliana Fernandez Steiner and Elsa Baquerizo Macmillan, 21-17, 21-14 in 32 minutes. 

The duo’s 2-1 tournament record tied that of the Spaniards and compatriots Akers and Branagh, but because May-Treanor and Walsh had a higher points ratio, they took first in the pool. 

“We played more under control, we took care of the ball better and we didn’t panic,” Walsh said in an FIVB release. “In the past couple of matches, we were kind of looking at our opponents and trying to focus on them while I think we are trying to focus on ourselves now.”

On the men’s side, Todd Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.) and Phil Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) were able to advance into the knockout rounds despite losing back-to-back matches on Thursday. As a result of the pair’s early win over China’s Lei Li and Bin Liu, Rogers and Dalhausser advanced into to the top 24, joining Jake Gibb (Bountiful, Utah)/Sean Rosenthal (Redondo Beach, Calif.) and Casey Patterson (Van Nuys, Calif.)/Brad Keenan (Santa Ana, Calif.).

Rogers and Dalhausser fell to Norway’s 17th-seeds Martin Spinnangr and Tarjei Skarlund, 14-21, 21-17, 16-14 in 52 minutes, before fumbling to the 16th-seed Netherlands team of Reinder Nummerdor and Richard Schil, 27-25, 21-17 in 41 minutes, finishing third in Pool J.

The defending Beijing Olympic gold medalists must win three consecutive matches to proceed to the semifinals. They will start in Friday’s first round against Russia’s 15th-seeded team of Yaroslav Koshkarev and Konstantin Semenov.

“We are still in the tournament, tomorrow is a new day,” Dalhausser said in an FIVB release. “I don’t know. I just don’t play well. I just don’t feel I’m in the rhythm right now and it’s really affecting my game.”

Gibb/Rosenthal and Patterson/Keenan had similar days, both defeating Sweden’s 27th-seed Stefan Gunnarsson and Hannes Brinkborg and then both losing to China’s sixth-seeded team of Penggen Wu and Linyin Xu.

Gibb and Rosenthal downed the Swedish team 19-21, 21-17, 15-10 in 53 minutes, and fell to the Chinese team 13-21, 21-18, 16-14 in 53 minutes. Patterson and Keened defeated the Gunnarsson and Brinkborg 21-14, 21-16 in 31 minutes and lost to Wu and Xu 21-16, 21-17 in 33 minutes.

Gibb and Rosenthal will face Latvia’s14th-seeded team of Martins Plavins and Janis Smedins in Friday’s first round, while Patterson and Keenan will take on Brazil’s 13th-seeded team of Pedro Henrique Cunha and Pedro Solberg Salgado.

The U.S. men’s team of Nick Lucena (Santa Barbara, Calif.) and Matthew Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.) fell to Switzerland’s 26th-seeded team of Sascha Heyer and Sebastian Chevallier, 22-20, 21-17 in 37 minutesand Spain’s 10th-seeded team of Pablo Herrera Allepuz and Adrian Gavira Collado, 21-16, 21-14 in 29 minutes, in Pool P’s round-robin matches on Thursday. With the losses, the pair was unable to advance.

Complete information about the FIVB Beach Volleyball SWATCH World Tour is available on the FIVB web site.

Tags: 2011 FIVB World Tour, 2011 SWATCH World Tour, FIVB beach, FIVB World Tour